Ten billion. Let that number sit for a second. Google Messages, the app that spent years being ignored, mocked, and overlooked while WhatsApp and iMessage dominated headlines, has officially crossed 10 billion downloads on the Play Store. At the same time, the Phone by Google app hit 5 billion downloads, cementing Google’s position as the backbone of Android communication worldwide. These aren’t just vanity metrics. They tell a story about how one of tech’s messiest platform battles quietly got resolved and who won.
The growth rate alone is staggering. Google Messages passed 1 billion downloads in May 2020 and hit 5 billion in September 2023 meaning it doubled its entire install base in just two and a half years. Since May 2020, the app has averaged 4.18 million installs per day roughly 174,000 per hour, 2,900 per minute, and one new install every 0.02 seconds. Numbers that belong in a database hall of fame.
But here’s the context that matters: unlike WhatsApp or Telegram, which users actively seek out and install, Google Messages benefits from its privileged position as the stock messaging application on devices from Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, and dozens of other manufacturers. When a new Android phone activates and the Play Store pushes an update to the preinstalled app, that counts as a download. The 10 billion figure is as much a testament to Android’s market dominance as it is to consumer preference.
That said, the genuine user numbers are equally impressive. In the US, Google Messages has approximately 110 million Daily Active Users and 185 million Monthly Active Users. Globally, those figures climb to 750 million DAU and over 1.2 billion MAU. Those are active users, people actually opening the app, not just devices with it preinstalled.
Two decisions accelerated the growth dramatically. Samsung pushed Galaxy users to Google Messages over its own app, while Verizon became another notable convert of two of the most powerful forces in the Android ecosystem effectively handing Google the keys. Then came the biggest unlock of all: Apple added RCS support to the iPhone in September 2024, greatly improving the quality of images shared during cross-platform chats and by mid-2025, Americans were sending over 1 billion RCS messages every day.Globally, more than 14 billion RCS messages are sent through Google Messages on an average day.
Compare that to the competition. WhatsApp sits at over 2 billion monthly active users globally but remains dominant primarily outside the US, UK, and Korea where carrier messaging culture runs deep. iMessage is locked entirely to Apple’s ecosystem, brilliant within it, invisible outside it. Telegram commands a passionate but niche base. Google Messages is the only app that has successfully threaded the needle between carrier infrastructure, cross-platform compatibility, and modern chat features and RCS is why.
The feature roadmap keeps accelerating too. Apple and Google are currently testing end-to-end encrypted RCS between iPhone and Android in iOS 26.4 beta 2, the last major piece of the puzzle that would make cross-platform messaging genuinely private. Gemini Nano is now being used for on-device scam detection, capable of identifying sophisticated romance baiting and job offer scams across Pixel 10, Galaxy S26, and other select devices. New features like group RCS mentions, Real-time Location Sharing, a Trash folder, and Smart Reply confirmation are rolling out steadily.
Ten billion downloads is a milestone. But the more meaningful number is 14 billion RCS messages sent globally every single day. That’s the metric that shows Google Messages isn’t just installed, it’s being used. Heavily. Daily. By over a billion people.
If you’re still using SMS, it’s time to check if RCS is enabled on your device. The green bubble era is ending and Google just proved it with a number that’s hard to argue with.
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